Smithsonian.com

Our next innovator is Michael Wong, a tenured professor of chemical engineering at Rice University.

Learn more about Michael.

Franklin D. Roosevelt. He led the country through two major crises, the Great Depression and World War II, and in so doing thoroughly revolutionized America’s sense of itself, its purpose and its place in the world. FDR’s New Deal not only introduced the welfare state to America and radically changed the scope of government; it also reconfigured American politics, sparking 60 years of debate between those who sought to expand it and those who sought to roll it back.

Who was the most influential American of the 20th century?

Our next innovator is Kevin Kruse, an associate professor of history at Princeton University. Learn more about Kevin.

What can the arts learn from the sciences and visa versa in today’s world?

Our next innovator is Aaron O’Dea, a paleobiologist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Balboa, Panama. Learn more about Aaron.

There are a lot of things I’d like to see. To take one in particular, I’d like to have computers be able to answer my questions—in a real sense, the way people can. With search tools like Google, you get an experience that is both more and less than what you get from talking to a person. True, no human being has instant access to billions of facts—but unlike Google, people can summarize, paraphrase, and draw inferences from what they know; they can tailor their answer to what they think you know; and they can engage in a dialogue when your question is hard to formulate precisely. (more…)

Despite amazing technological advances, there are many respects in which computing and the Internet are still in their early stages of development. What would you most like computers to be able to do for you that they can’t currently do today?

Our next innovator is Jon Kleinberg, professor of computer science at Cornell. Learn more about Jon.

I remember the first time I ever saw a black ballerina perform. Christina Johnson and Donald Williams of the Dance Theatre of Harlem danced in a summer festival in my hometown, Columbia, MD. I was 12 years old. At the time, I was unaware that stereotypes and prejudices existed in the world of dance. I was just happy to be learning steps and going to performances. However, when I saw Christina Johnson perform Le Corsaire, I realized that this was the first time that I had ever seen a black ballerina in a live performance. I just wasn’t expecting her to be black! I instantly felt a connection to her. I wanted to scream out loud, “Hey everyone! She looks like me!” I had never pictured myself as a REAL ballerina until I had the opportunity to witness her beauty. It was one of the most magical, most self-realizing moments of my adolescent life.